Canucks Army Postgame: Dirty Wins

With a must-need win behind the Canucks against the Detroit Red Wings, the Canucks are out of the basement and back in a playoff spot in the Pacific Division. 

Oh, wait… I forgot to mention. The Pacific is terrible, so they’re still in danger of falling back into the basement. 

How about that win, though, eh? 

This was Vancouver’s first game without Brandon Sutter AND without Henrik Sedin, and the team did… well, I suppose better than expected. 

Jared McCann picked up a goal in the first period to remind the team that he’s sticking around for the long haul (sorry, Team Canada) and Jannik Hansen got a nifty primary assist to help the team enter the second frame 1-0. 

Then, none other than Sven Baertschi picked up goal number two of the game, earning the team a two-goal lead… which, of course, they promptly blew. The game ultimately had to be settled in the shootout, which is the world’s biggest nightmare and shows that the Canucks even want us to hate their wins. 

Radim Vrbata FINALLY capitalized on one of his eight hundred thousand shots on goal, scoring number ten of the season on a night that saw the Czech record 4 SOG. I won’t talk about Ryan Miller (jk, yes I will, just wait for it), although he did prevent the team from falling for yet another time in extra minutes. He’s fading fast this season, but he held on long enough to give the club a chance at the shootout – which is Jimmy Howard’s kryptonite. 

Canucks win, and they’re one game closer to this season finally coming to a close. 

This team blew another 3rd period lead! *waits for head to inevitably explode*

Linden Vey had some pretty frank words when he was recalled earlier today, mentioning that there were some points in his game that needed addressing when he was sent down to the Utica Comets to start out the year. 

Admitting that there was stuff to work on – and that you knew it – is a big thing for a young kid to do, but Vey did it. Now, he’s up with the big club during the holiday season, and doing big things… like, winning the game big things. 

The actual game itself saw very limited action from Vey, who was a bit of a bummer when he tried to put up top tier production on a power play unit last season with the Sedins. He only recorded one shot on goal in his eleven minutes and change during tonight’s game, and found himself a pointless skater when the team hit the shootout. 

The shootout, though. 

Being the shootout hero isn’t something that’s necessarily replicable, and Vey will need to show us more than just a shootout winning goal to prove he deserves a second chance in the NHL. Finding the back of the net to win the game, though? Not bad for your return to the lineup, Vey. 

Ryan Miller walked away from a game in which his club outshot their opponents 40-28 with a shootout win over a goaltender who’s notoriously terrible at shootout wins, so that’s how I feel about him right now. You can’t blame a whole loss on the goaltender, but the Miller that would have been expected to bail his club out during their iconic third-period collapse succumbed to exhaustion in mid-November. 

The way that Miller has been playing in the last few weeks looks nothing short of tired, which is worrying to me, If he’s already starting to tire out before Christmas break is even under way, next year is going to be the farthest thing from fun. 

Normally, I’m a Christopher Tanev fan, but he sat on Miller during one of the goals. Derek Dorsett, Brandon Prust, and Adam Cracknell also failed to provide next to any offense, and the club still has a ways to go before they’ll look like the deserve a playoff spot (if they even get one). 

I guess Auston Matthews Matthew Tkachuk is still cool, right? 

I want to applaud the team for winning, but Jimmy Howard is (and probably always will be) terrified of the shootout – so this was literally a must-win. If Howard walked away with two points in the skills competition and the Canucks earned another one-point night, things would have been pretty bad. 

They won, though, so let’s celebrate. Vrbata scored, Sven Baertschi had a two-point night, and welcome back, Linden Vey!